Can't Leave
by Raydiate
Summary: Temari hated moving. She was never able to make any real connections anywhere she went. Another new town though and maybe things will be different. It was one big family really but letting her in didn't seem to be difficult, especially for some. ShikaTema
1. Meeting 1

I hated moving. I really did. We'd been moving around my whole life. Throughout my whole childhood and teenage years I hadn't been able to stay at the same school for more than a year and even that only happened twice. I was finally almost done high school. Almost allowed to be free. But in a new school once again. At least it wasn't an especially cleaky school. In fact, it was so small that by the end of the first week I had at least heard of almost everyone there was to know there and they all had their own room no matter how crowded.

Naruto Uzumaki was the first to introduce himself. First thoughts about him were stay as far away as possible at all times. Far too loud, both his voice and his appearance with the bright orange attire and spiky blonde hair, I could tell already that too much of his presence would get tiring. His seemingly dimwitted nature also made him someone I wouldn't want to be around for too long.

Alongside him in that category came Rock Lee. Way too excited for life as far as I was concerned and just an overly energetic pest to have hanging around. Plus, not exactly the most flattering appearance-wise with his greasy black hair and bright green spandex. It was horrifying, actually.

Another similar one to place in this category, though seemed significantly more tolerable, was Kiba Inuzuka. Described just like a dog, he was a little rough around the edges with a shaggy, dog-like appearance but really an all around fun-loving and good guy from what I'd heard. But I couldn't be one to say considering he was one of the ones I hadn't actually met face-to-face yet.

Then there were the quieter guys consisting of Shino Aubrame, Hyuuga Neji and the infamous Sasuke Uchiha.

Though it was commonly believed that Shino was simply very shy, even just seeing him from a distance told me he was just antisocial. He seemed a little strange – stereotypically speaking, a kind of cross between emo and class freak. He dressed in dark colours and kept himself almost completely covered at all times so it wasn't a surprise to notice he seemed out of place here. He probably didn't have much in common with anybody and therefore didn't speak to them unless absolutely necessary.

Neji seemed somewhat similar but in a more arrogant, self-righteous way that got on my nerves the moment I met him. He always carried that 'I'm-above-you-so-I-don't-need-to-speak-to-you' aura about him and it pissed me off. It showed in the way he presented himself too. He was a good-looking guy and he knew it, paying a little bit more attention to his appearance than most other guys wearing tighter, more form-fitting jeans and shirts, though maybe that was just because he actually was a bit older.

Sasuke was very much like Neji but a little younger and a little more moody. Where Neji was neutral and monotone, Sasuke was angry and bitter. He never once smiled but, unlike Neji's simple lack of motivation to smile, it appeared that Sasuke would probably be unable to if he tried. He, too, dressed a little more carefully but still age-appropriate and again, a good-looking guy in casual dark jeans, t-shirts and sneakers.

After that, there were the ones that didn't seem to have a set place anywhere.

The first being Shikamaru Nara. I'd never met him but I've heard he's one of those lazy geniuses: has extraordinary potential but is too lazy and doesn't care enough to use it. Those kinds of people really pissed me off, too. But I still hadn't had the pleasure of meeting him so I couldn't really say anything.

The next being Choji Akamichu. He was a bigger man that always carried snacks with him wherever he went. Not the most attractive of guys, mostly due to his weight, but rumour had it, he's actually the sweetest guy you'll ever meet. I'll take the girls' word for it seeing as, once again, I haven't actually met the guy.

Speaking of girls, I suppose I should introduce them as well.

Sakura Hurano was a bubbly, pink-haired, green-eyed girl who could have given even me a run for my money in a fist fight. She was, and still is, easily the most contradictory girl I have ever met. Despite her pink hair and red attire that made her look like a grinning, giggling Valentine, when she was angry you should seriously consider running for your life. Fortunately, I hadn't experienced the consequences first hand, yet.

Next would be Sakura's best friend, and equally bubbly, Ino Yamanaka. Apparently, they'd had quite a history together, their friendship fluctuating frequently only to leave them as they started: best friends. Aside from presumed differences, they actually seemed quite similar but where Sakura was strong and forceful, Ino was bitchy and annoying. She was also blonde like me with blue eyes like me and loved purple like me. That pissed me off. Needless to say, I hated that one pretty quickly.

Tenten was older, closer to my age, so she was the one I got along with the best. She was a cute looking girl with dark hair tied up in two buns on either side of her head and big, brown eyes. Her personality, on the other hand, was not one to match. She was quite a bit like me actually; with a strong belief in male/female equality in strength, she was a tough girl with an unbelievably strong will-power. I have a lot of respect for the life she lives due to her beliefs.

Last but not least was Hinata Hyuuga, Neji's cousin. Though I would have probably looked at it the other way around with Neji as Hinata's cousin seeing as I liked Hinata infinitely more. She was an incredibly shy girl: very meek. But true, loyal and honest, as well. Unlike Tenten, however, she had the appearance to match. With short bluish-grey hair and very traditional clothing and style, her fidgeting fingers only added to her humble appearance. It was impossible not to love the young girl.

There, of course, were many more students at this school but, in my grade, these were the ones I've either met or heard about. I spent my first couple of days trying to remember their names and faces so I wouldn't look like an idiot for not knowing so few people. Those were the main characteristics going through my head as I remembered them all.

Wednesdays. What's the point of Wednesday? It's not the day after the first day of school nor is it the day before the last day of school. It's just… in between. And I hated the in between. It's like the suburbs or shades of grey. Like monotone, it's just neutral. Bland. Nothing happens on a Wednesday. Last weekend's excitement has died off but it's too early to be looking forward to the approaching one.

In any case, there I was on my way to the street corner I had arranged to meet Tenten and would then proceed to school. At that point she was probably my only real friend and considering her attitude and personality, she didn't really get along with too many girls. It just so happened that her best friend was none other than Neji Hyuuga for reasons still unknown to me. It seemed they were both pretty secretive about their relationship, aside from the fact that they'd known each other since they were toddlers, but rumour had it, they were dating. I must say that I'd learned to see Neji in a kinder light since I'd met Tenten and found myself thinking that if they were, in fact, dating, I couldn't deny that they'd be cute together. But, to be honest, and even to this day, I'll still never understand what she sees in him. But as they say; to each their own.

"Hey, Temari!" she yelled in my direction the moment she saw me turn my last corner. I smiled and waved in return and once I reached her we continued to walk to the school.

"Guess what." She said after a moment of easy silence between us.

"Mmm?" I sounded in response.

"The rest of the guys are back so you can meet them today." She seemed much more thrilled about the new than I was but I tried to act excited. I knew all the girls I'd heard about so it was just some of the guys I had yet to meet in person and so far I haven't had much luck with guy friends here even though they're usually the ones I get along with best.

"Great." I said nonetheless. Unfortunately, it sounded much less enthusiastic than I had hoped and Tenten was definitely intelligent enough to notice.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked with all sincerity in her voice.

"Oh, nothing. Still just trying to memorize my way to school so you don't have to walk me every day." I said and smiled, still looking ahead.

"I don't mind, you know." She said, again, honestly. She really was a nice girl underneath the offensive defence she held up so strongly. I definitely saw this relationship going somewhere.

Once we got to school I immediately tried to scope out my brother with no luck. It was less than two weeks into school and he was already skipping. He'd been like that every year since grade 7 so it came as no surprise to me and I gave up long ago trying to force him to go. It was a fruitless effort really. But, like the responsible, caring, big sister that I was, I looked for him anyway only officially giving up when the bell rang and had to run to first class before I was deemed tardy.

The moment I walked into Biology class, first period, I noticed an undeniable change and promptly remembered what Tenten had said about some people returning from who-knows-where. I looked around the room to find a bigger guy with a bag of potato chips on his desk loudly munching away at them. The crunching noise: that was the difference in the classroom today. I ignored it and walked to my desk waiting for the teacher to begin class. Aside from the noise he seemed harmless.

So, just like every other, that Wednesday moved on rather slowly in my remaining 3 classes before lunch: English, Communications Tech. and Ancient History up to the 16th Century. No other new kids I'd heard about were in my classes and because the school was so small there was, at most, 2 of any one class so many of the same students filled each of my classrooms. And to top it off, because the curriculum was so different at my previous school, I found that I'd already covered most of the material I was now studying even though I was in the appropriate grade level.

Tenten always spent her lunch hour with Neji and considering I didn't really care for him all that much and he probably acted a little differently around Tenten alone than if I was hanging around too, I opted to have lunch on my own. I didn't really mind. I liked the quiet.

By the time classes started up again, however, I was definitely ready to begin learning. I'd long gotten bored of sitting alone behind the school.

My class right after lunch was probably the most interesting class I've ever experienced for a variety of reasons. The first being that it was Art class. The second being that our teacher seriously lacked a back bone. And the third being that the one and only Kiba Inuzuka happened to be in that class, now that he was back. I'd heard he was a fun guy and a bit of a goof but I had no idea the extent. He was definitely a class clown, always making smartass but funny comments all through class but the teacher seemed alright with it. He seemed to gain respect from his undeniable artistic talent. Even in just one day one could see he was easily one of the best in the class. _Awesome way to start off after lunch._ And I thought that in all honesty.

My next class was boring as ever. World Issues. I'd already been all around the world so, believe me, I knew of all the issues worth knowing.

Things were only going downhill after Art. In the process of switching classes, I got a call from Kankuro at home who'd apparently decided that now was a good time to tell me how sorry he was for not coming to school and beg my forgiveness. He was smart to know that apologizing was a good idea because otherwise I'd just beat him to a bloody pulp when I got home but really stupid to be calling me at this particular moment. He probably just got up from a nap without looking at the time before dialling. I just ignored what he was saying and tried to get him off the phone as soon as possible so I wouldn't be late for class. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side. Just as I hung up, the bell rang. I cursed and rushed up the stairs two at a time to make it to Writer's Craft. Just as I was about to open the door, the handle turned and the door opened causing me to stumble a bit forwards before leaning back to avoid such close proximity with the boy that stood in front of me.

He was a good few inches taller than me with long brown hair tied up in a pony tail. He had deep, dark, chocolate-brown eyes to match but the expression they held screamed of severe boredom.

"You're late." He stated simply. As he made a move to pass me he added, without even looking, "I wouldn't suggest going in now with some lame excuse; I assure you it wont work." And he continued around me down the hall.

I scowled. Shikamaru Nara. I remembered his description. If the long hair didn't give him away, the bored, lazy look definitely did but I must say this was not a good first impression. I'd barely even met the man and he was already trying to give me advice? Ha! He obviously didn't know me. "Oh? And you know this from experience I take it." I retorted with a smirk.

To my delight, that got a reaction. He turned slowly and studied me, my smirk still embedded on my features. I casually took in his appearance as well. He was slouched, leaning one leg with his hands in his pockets: the typical bored position. He was wearing black and white converse sneakers and fairly loose jeans with a hole in the knee. Remembering more of what I'd heard about the Nara, I assumed he was too lazy to fix it or replace the jeans. Working my way up, I noted the t-shirt he was wearing. It was dark green, almost black, with the words 'lazyass' across the front. _How appropriate._ I scoffed at that. Swear words were against the school's dress code. _Rebel, I see._ I estimated that, out of its restraints, his hair would easily fall past his shoulders and surround his strong, angular jaw. The last thing I noticed was his ear. A piercing? I squinted only enough to see a little better without him noticing and sure enough a tiny silver hoop hung from a hole in his ear. _Nice._ I thought, sarcastically. Though, to be honest with myself, I actually found it rather attractive on him.

"What's it to you?" he asked, apparently done his analysis on me with the sudden sound of his voice freeing me of mine on him. Like I hadn't done enough already.

To be honest, I didn't have an answer to that. It really wasn't any of my business whether he was late to class every day or not, though it would suit his description perfectly. Hiding my uncertainty, I decided to leave the question unanswered acting perfectly as though I thought him a waste of my time. At least that would get rid of him for the moment. I rolled my eyes and smirked, turning around and walking into the class.

"Your funeral." I heard him mutter but by the time I turned around to face him again, he had already begun his journey down the hall. Just as I was turning to walk in the class, I was sure I heard a small "troublesome" over my shoulder. I continued in the classroom not looking back.

What I hadn't known and was soon to realize was that that jerk I'd casually insulted before Writer's Craft was undeniably correct. After standing up at the front of the class enduring 30 minutes of humiliation from the teacher about being tardy, I was finally sent to the office to explain my actions. Ugh.

I walked into the tiny room walking right up to the desk without looking at any other occupants on the way. I explained why I was there not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice. The secretary only stared at me as I spoke and, like me, didn't bother hiding the annoyance in her expression. _This must be a regular thing here._ When I was clearly finished my explanation, she paused a moment and then told me to take a seat for a minute. I turned and sat in the first empty chair I saw, still avoiding looking at the other students sitting in the room.

I sat for a moment, looking straight ahead, before "Told you." I closed my eyes in aggravation and slowly turned my head down and to my left taking in the converse sneakers, torn jeans, nearly black t-shirt with the offensive language and then the face of a smirking jerk with long, tied-up hair and an attractive ear piercing. I glared at him and sighed audibly before turning back to face the wall straight ahead. He ignored me, placed his ear bud back in his right ear and sat back, leaning his head on the wall behind, still smiling, satisfied and amused. _Why me?_ I complained to myself.

Finally the day was over after Shop class. _Thank god. Now all I have to do is go home and beat the shit out of Kankuro for not coming to school and then cook dinner for him and my even younger brother who decided he wasn't even going to enrol._ Ugh. Being the oldest was not easy. And on top of all that, the cause for the worst part of my afternoon and a lovely formal warning to never be late again decided to taunt me even further in my thoughts. Goddamnit, he just wouldn't leave! Why the hell was I still thinking about him anyway? This was definitely not a great start.


	2. Meeting 2

Yea, I'd heard about them. Who hadn't? I'd long gotten bored of this tiny, old town housing maybe a couple thousand people. I had my friends, sure, and not bad ones at all. But still, seeing only the same 40 or 50 people every day can get tiring. But we all knew each other and we were all connected, somehow.

Choji was my best friend. He was a big guy but he had the kindest heart you'll ever see. He always carried snacks with him wherever he went but if you dared call him fat he could become as strong and forceful as an angry Sakura. If he and I were considered anything it was outsiders. Not like we were strange or repulsive, more just ordinary and didn't belong in any one place. One of the main reasons I befriended him so easily was that we were both able to happily do a whole lot of absolutely nothing but eat or watch clouds.

Ino was probably one of the loudest, bossiest and most annoying girls you will ever meet aside from my mother but I'd known her since we were babies and though some believe she acted differently around me because she knew me so well, I think we'd both just grown on each other. Before you think anything of it, though, we were nothing more than good friends. A place by her side is reserved for Choji who, despite her harsh treatment towards him, likes her more and more every day.

Ino and Sakura were best friends, and still are to this day, but no one knows the extent of their past quarrels like I do and believe me, they were almost always about Sasuke. Those two had fought over him for as long as I can remember much to Naruto's dismay as he had used to like Sakura quite a bit. Both the fighting and Naruto's crush had ceased as Ino began to loose interest in Sasuke and Naruto began to only see Sakura as a friend, though perhaps that was just because he lost hope.

Sasuke and Neji were both the coldest and most repulsively depressing guys out there in my opinion. I never knew a man who couldn't smile till Sasuke and I never knew a man who hated life as much as Neji. But they looked good in the dark and mysterious way, so Ino said, and therefore had all the girls after them without even trying.

I really had no reason to acknowledge Sasuke much aside from having been able to put up with girls like Sakura and Ino on his ass all his life: for that I both pity and respect him. He was never one I'd have been great friends with. However, different could be said about Naruto. He and Sasuke, as strange as it seems, have been best friends for a while now. An awkward and seemingly impossible relationship, it was a love-hate thing at first. Not in the romantic way, as far as I knew, but they'd been the bitterest of rivals for the longest time however rather than hating one another, they actually found they couldn't live without the other in their own weird way.

Neji, as opposed to Sasuke, I had warmed up to a bit more. Though he was at least good friends if not more with Tenten who was on my list of troublesome women, I gave him props for having been willingly able to put up with her so easily. In addition, he was also good friends with Lee, as unbelievable as it seemed, and Lee was a being that even my vast intelligence couldn't comprehend. Finally, he was also the cousin of Hinata and anyone related to that girl must have had at least one or two kind bones in their body.

Hinata had been in love with Naruto ever since grade school when she first met him but of course that loud-mouth had been completely oblivious to the incredibly shy girl's incredibly subtle, almost invisible, hints all along. She was always far too timid to easily catch the attention of someone like that, unfortunately for her. Or perhaps not so unfortunately…

Kiba was another decent friend of mine but Kiba was really friends with everyone. A truly fun-loving guy, he was loud, funny and wild; always the class clown so as you can imagine it surprised me to notice feelings of more than friendship toward Hinata coming from him. Over the past couple of years I could see the way he looked at her was soft and delicate as opposed to the mischievous expression his face always held. They had been good friends for a long time so I knew why he wasn't making any kind of move on her: he knew she like Naruto a lot and he didn't want to jeopardise the relationship he already had with her. If only she knew.

One thing I've learned from being surrounded by so few people all my life is that gossip works best the fewer the people there are.

The gossip in this town was the biggest and most troublesome pain in the ass, to say the least. Aside from the fact that 70% of what was said was false, the other 30% was usually completely irrelevant to anything I cared about and on top of that, it was absolutely impossible to ignore. In any case, yes, I had heard of them; particularly _her_. Our new arrivals had been the talk of the town for a month and a half before they'd even arrived. Thank the lord I was away for the first week of school; I was conveniently able to miss out on the troublesome business of greeting the three siblings. When I got back, though, I had no idea what a rude awakening I was in for.

It was a widely known fact that I was the most intelligent student in the school. Now believe me, the last thing I'm trying to do is brag. My 200+ IQ is, as far as I'm concerned, nothing but troublesome. I was also known as the laziest guy in the school to the extent that I was even said to be too lazy to fuck. Well, I don't know about that but I definitely hated the high expectations people had of me because of my goddamned brain. I didn't want to do anything exceptional. I just wanted an average job, average wife, average house and two average children: an average life. Why is that so unbelievable to everyone? But, of course, things don't always go as planned. I know that much. What I didn't know was that my plan would change more drastically than I would have ever imagined and it would begin on my first day of grade twelve.

She had already gotten the introductions on everyone, it seemed. When I arrived at school that Wednesday even to this day I believe I wouldn't have been able to overlook her if I'd tried. It wasn't just her unusual appearance in a place like this with the blonde hair and perfectly natural tanned skin; it was her attitude. She was new and in an environment she wasn't used to but she still walked like she owned the place. She still looked everyone straight in the eye and didn't so much as blink before glaring at any guy that dare look at her the wrong way. On top of that, she appeared to have made friends with Tenten who was the oldest and strongest, not in force (that would be Sakura) but in will-power, of all the girls in our grade. I could sense it immediately: she was nothing but trouble.

"She's pretty hot, eh?" Kiba said, nudging my side, grinning. I sighed and stared at him for a second half-heartedly trying to figure out if he meant for me or for himself. We'd both spotted the infamous female transfer student by the name of Temari on our way to school but still, I grimaced; it was far too early in the morning to be thinking of troublesome women other than my mom who I am unfortunately unable to avoid when she's screaming at me in my ear to get up. _Sigh._ When I noticed he was expecting a response, I reluctantly obliged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I decided to play dumb for the sake of avoiding a rather troublesome conversation about rather troublesome women.

"Nothing, nothing." He said in defence, "just that she's hot." He was still grinning knowingly from ear to ear. Choji remained silent but I knew he was thinking something, however insignificant, beyond the snacks in his hands. Seriously, you'd think people would take my well-known IQ result seriously but you'd be surprised at how many people take me for an idiot. You don't even need to be a genius to figure out that that tone meant more than just a simple physical check-out, especially coming from Kiba.

To my relief, right at that moment Naruto jumped behind us out of no where and began complaining about having the crazy, spandex gym teacher again this year. He was, eventually, accompanied by a moody Sasuke not too far behind who obviously didn't want to put in the effort of following along with Naruto's surprise attack. The remainder of my walk to school was noisy and full of troublesome topics bellowed between Naruto and Kiba but thankfully I was left completely alone: precisely how I like it.

Fortunately for me, my day started out alright with seemingly no classes with any of the three new transfer students. Photography was an awesome first period because there was no one in it that would be bothersome and it was a bird course so I could easily take a nap and still pass with flying colours. Then there was Challenge and Change, another bird course, but this time with Ino. Fortunately, Sakura was also in the class so I was generally left alone. The last two before lunch were Tech. and Auto. They're both very troublesome courses but all the guys were in them as it was the only way to get enough students for the course to be taught. All in all, a decent morning.

Lunches were always troublesome. I really hate cafeterias. The food is never good even though it's usually too troublesome to care and just being in the place is such a drag. It's far too crowded and clearly too noisy if you can't even hear someone who's forcibly less than two inches away from you. And then it's even worse if you're stuck with someone like Ino who believes that where you choose to sit is absolutely critical when to me it's, in fact, nothing but trouble. However, one piece of good news is that I, once again, didn't have the misfortune of seeing any of the troublesome transfer students. My afternoon didn't go as smoothly.

First after lunch was Chemistry, already a painful course, but also with Ino. Now, being alone in any course with Ino is far from fun or relaxing, believe me, I know from years of experience. But attempting to explain complex concepts to a woman absolutely unable to comprehend but also immeasurably stubborn to the extent of not shutting up until you try is nothing but troublesome. Then came Art where I had to do shit all and less to pass. Got to love Elective courses. However, Art class came with the misfortune of having to put up with the deafening shrieks and screams of Ino, Sakura and other rabid fan girls directed toward a certain dark and broody Uchiha. Again, troublesome. And as if that wasn't enough to spoil my afternoon, it was followed by Writer's Craft which was, again, a fantastic fly course. I am smart for a reason; I choose the best courses suited for my exceptional talent of sleeping. However, my experiences in this class on this particular Wednesday were unusually troublesome.

As it was the second last course of the day and my last chance at sleeping before Advanced Functions, I opted to take a nap the moment I walked in. Regrettably, the teacher who walked in mere moments after my head touched the desk was the biggest hard-ass of a teacher in the school. Not only did I receive a most painful smack in the head by her menacing metre stick but I was also privileged with the possibility of permanent damage done to my ears by her high-pitched shrilling tones. Claiming that even if I wasn't sleeping yet I would have been soon, she proceeded to send me down to the office under the pretences that I had threatened to fall asleep during her class. Now, believe me, I could have had a few things to say about that but it's far too troublesome to bother so I got up grabbing my bag and made my way up the aisle to exit the classroom shamelessly. Unfortunately my misfortunes hadn't ceased.

The moment I pulled on the door, I was met face-to-face, and in rather close proximity, with a woman a few inches shorter than me with blonde hair and a seemingly clumsy demeanour. I just stood there watching as she regained her composure after almost running into me, no doubt expecting the door to have remained in place a little longer than it had, and promptly noticed that she was both familiar and unfamiliar to my eye. I had seen her before but, unlike most in this town, only once before. It was, and had to be with my luck, Temari no Sabaku.

"You're late," I said. I was really not in the mood to deal with more troublesome women but seeing as she was new to the school, I decided to give her some quick advice as I make my way around her to the office. "I wouldn't suggest going in now with some lame excuse; I assure you it wont work." She scowled and it may have been the cutest scowl I have ever seen come across a troublesome woman's face. _Perhaps she's not as troublesome as I suspected._

"Oh? And you know this from experience I take it." _And I take it back._ I stopped and slowly turned around immediately taking in her proud smirk. _Most definitely troublesome._ Not caring in the least about her opinion on me, I remained silent, studying her more closely as I wasn't able to the last time I saw her.

She was, by no means, ugly. On the contrary, she was a very attractive girl: more womanly than most females around here. She was tall for a woman with well defined breasts and a very prominent hourglass figure with curves in all the right places. From the feet upward, she wore some strappy, flat sandal-looking shoe that rather resembled gladiator sandals with some kind of rope ankle bracelet followed by a brown knee-length skirt with a green, designed scarf tied around her waist. She had a dark red t-shirt on underneath an off-white knitted sweater clearly three or four sizes too big, almost falling off her shoulders and covering the majority of her fingers. She had a small and very unique looking messenger bag with pins, patches, writing and designs covering every square inch of the seemingly thin, grey fabric. Her jewellery was simple consisting of one necklace made with the same material to match her ankle bracelet with a large ruby coloured pendant held in place with and attached by black wiring. Aside from the sandy, golden colour, her hair was the most unusual thing about her appearance as it was tied up in not two but four pigtails around her head. However, the thing my eyes found themselves drawn to were her eyes; they were unbelievably alluring. They weren't blue or green, more turquoise, fiery and alive; I found it extraordinarily difficult to look away.

"What's it to you?" I asked. However annoyed I was at my troublesome situation, I was also unable to hide the smile from my voice as I looked at her amused expression. _She's lookin' to pick a fight and clearly doesn't realise that wont work with me._

I saw a surprised and almost intimidated expression flood her features for a moment but it was gone as quickly as it'd come in less than the blink of an eye replaced with boredom and annoyance: an expression I knew very well as my own.

"You're funeral," I muttered just loud enough for her to hear me as I turned toward the office and she to walk in the class, obviously having ignored my warning. _Even after I went out of my way to warn her against walking in late, my efforts have gone to waste. Troublesome._ Though that last part may have come out as more than just a thought…

Our lovely office secretaries really were a joke in our school. They, along with the teachers, expected us, the students, to walk into the office and calmly and truthfully tell them of our wrong-doings and then furthermore accept any and all punishments that our rather temperamental principal would put in place without backtalk, argument or complaint. Oh, how wrong they were in thinking that will ever happen. However, seeing as I was the most intelligent student in school and would therefore most probably not be expelled for 'threatening to fall asleep in class' in addition to the fact that expulsion was really the only thing I couldn't afford, I decided to oblige to their expectations.

Following my very brief explanation of events in my 7th period class I found myself seated in the uncomfortably small sitting room awaiting an appointment with the vice-principal to discuss the punishment for my actions, or should it be lack of actions. In any case, just as I placed earbud headphones in my ear, leaned my head against the wall and prepared to nap to my favourite artist, I felt new presence in the room. Curiosity getting the better of me, I slowly opened my eyes to the ground spotting the gladiator sandals followed by flowing brown material obstructed by an array of greens and then a lot of not quite white and four very distinguished sandy golden pigtails. I smirk knowingly to myself and close my eyes once again. _Right, once again._

A few minutes passed before I felt a large weight slump down in the seat to the right of mine. With my music player already in my hands I press the pause button to cease the music for the moment.

"Told you," I said and pulled my head away from the wall taking my right earbud out respectfully. She turns to look at me slowly and gives me a rather menacing death glare before sighing and turning back to face the wall opposite us. _Stubborn one, huh? Troublesome._ Though I wouldn't have admitted it to myself back then, the smile that followed her glare, my replacement of the earbud in my ear and my head on the wall turned out to be much more than just a smile of pride and wicked amusement.

Advanced Functions passed rather slowly. Even though the numerous advanced concepts came rather naturally to me, my teacher being a not-so-lenient one prevented me from napping. But, it was finally over and I had completed my first day of grade twelve. Not without a scratch though. It was the first day of school and I was already sent to the office and furthermore I may have been a contributing factor in getting the new transfer student sent down as well. To top it all off, the school day is over and we both got out alive but she was still there. In my mind, I mean. It really was rather troublesome having an even more troublesome woman in my head all afternoon and if I had allowed my common sense and genius brain to mingle every now and then I may have realized that perhaps it meant something. But of course I didn't so it remained one word: troublesome.


	3. There 1

You know those times when you notice something about someone, and it could be the most insignificant, miniscule detail like a chip in their nail polish but you'll notice it anyway, and for the rest of the day it looks like they have a neon sign above their heads flashing 'LOOK AT ME' because of that tiny, completely inconsequential thing? Well that's what I was experiencing. Only instead of it being an insignificant, miniscule, tiny, completely inconsequential thing about the person, it was the person himself and it had been lasting all.. damn.. week. Which admittedly was only _that_ day, yesterday and this morning so far.. but he was just always **there**! I don't even think he meant to be but damn it I was going to shoot something if he popped up around a corner one more time. The worst part about it was that it didn't seem to bother him at all aside from his usual 'troublesome' attitude about everything. Probably just because I wasn't used to tiny towns with less than 5000 people that you see every damn day of your life, this was pissing me off.

"You don't look that heavy but I think you're going to break the floor tiles if you keep stomping around like that."

Damn that voice to the pits of hell and beyond. I turned around and scowled at the bored expression on the Nara's face.

"What do you want?" I said as casually as I could, given how infuriated I was that he was there.. **again**. And upon recollection, "and who the hell are you to judge how heavy I am?"

What bothered me most was how completely uninterested he was all the time. You'd think that if he was going to make a useless comment like that to someone he barely knew he'd have some kind of motivation or reasoning but, still, I get absolutely nothing but possibly a deeper frown in response to my outburst.

Just as I was considering smacking his face clean off, he rolled his eyes in a mix of boredom and defeat and sidestepped past me. I glared at him the whole way to find him walk to Ino, who was rambling about something to Choji, who was listening quietly.

I watched long enough to see Shikamaru say something short in an annoyed greeting at her complaining and then Ino smack him on the shoulder, probably for being so inconsiderate. _Lucky. That was going to be my move._

There was no doubt about it, Ino was gorgeous. Even the way she carried herself, it was a self-righteous and bitchy but confident and unavoidably alluring. I could easily see why men were so attracted to her. And then there was Shikamaru right next to her, not even looking at her. As little as I wanted to admit it, he wasn't unattractive either, lazy, but self-assured. Yet together, there was nothing. He just stood there bored as always and she just kept talking about who-knows-what to whoever she thought might be listening.

Shikamaru shifted position on his feet and turned his head in my direction catching my eye. I looked away annoyed at myself and immediately regretted it.

Turning on my heals, I made a break for Art class. Thankfully, lunch was almost over anyway which also meant that the weekend was less than a half a day away. And I get two periods of sanity before he steals it again in Writer's Craft.

-flashback-

"And, Temari," the stickler teacher looks at her list again, "I'll have you with Mr. Nara seeing as everyone else already has a partner and you two have a little something in common from yesterday."

_That bitch._

I looked four seats over from me at the back of the class and it appeared as though 'Mr. Nara' had just woken up, naturally. I curse my life.

For the next hour I'm forced to read biographies of famous writers with the intention of then comparing viewpoints with that lazy, no good, son-of-a-

"Are you done yet?" His head was down and I found it hard to believe he could even see the words at his angle but every damn page he was done reading before I was.

I slowly turned my head and glared at him before just as slowly turning my head back to the book to finish the page in my own sweet time.

"Troublesome."

"So, how did everyone make out?" the teacher asked the class as a whole.

"Fuck." I muttered to myself. I hadn't even finished the section and he was still 'resting his head' on the desk next to mine.

He and I got a D on that assignment and it was the first damn D of my life.

-end of flashback-

I scowled at the memory as I walked into the Art room but by the end of class, all was forgotten. We were doing gesture drawing and the one and only Kiba Inuzuka volunteered to be our model. On top of poking fun at himself and his job the entire time, you can only imagine the gestures he chose to demonstrate for everyone to draw. A thoroughly amusing class.

Walking out into the hallway though, I realized that destiny simply would not give me more than a couple of hours of peace.

A slouched young man with dark brown hair in a ponytail and even darker brown eyes was leaning against the lockers outside the classroom.

"What, are you stalking me or something?" I say without even trying to hide my annoyance as I walk by.

"Che, troublesome." I hear as he, with a seemingly great deal of effort, pushes himself off the locker and walks into class.

Before I could take another step though, Tenten comes running behind me and nearly throws me to the floor with excitement.

"Temari!" She's gasping for air but clearly can't wait to at least attempt to tell me whatever's gotten her so riled up. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Um, going home?" As soon as I saw the evil grin on Tenten's face, though, I wished I could take back my words as quickly as I thought them up. "Ohh no, Tenten. If this is one of your crazy ways to drag me to some godforsaken social 'gettogether' you can count me right out."

"Oh come on Temari, please?" When Tenten wanted something from you she had this way of forming her lips into an adorable pout and her eyes would get as big as watermelons looking up at you like a puppy.

"Give it a rest, Tenten. That little trick may work on Neji but I'll be damned if I get myself roped into going to this whatever-it-is because of your begging." I crossed my arms stubbornly.

"But Neji may very well be more anti-social than Shino, not to mention awkward beyond belief when it comes to crowds of sweaty people grinding on one another."

"You know, you're not helping your case at all right now. What part of that repulsive display of affection do you honestly think has any appeal to me whatsoever?"

"Oh, you're worse than Neji!" Tenten pouted.

"Well that can't be saying too much considering how much time you spend with him anyway." I give her a knowing smirk before starting to walk to my next class again. Over the past couple of days, I had begun to believe the rumours more and more about Tenten and Neji potentially being a semi-secret item. But it certainly wasn't hard to believe that he wasn't the type to enjoy that kind of.. party, if you can even call it that. And neither was I. Which means I wasn't going to go. Not in a million years.

* * *

"You're going."

"And what on earth makes you think you have power to make me go, hmm?" With my hands on my hips and my head down, I glare at my dear younger brother, challenging him to come up with one good reason that will get me to go to the party tonight.

I came home to find him sitting in front of the TV with some food. However, I then found out that he had, in fact, gone to school long enough to find out about tonight. _The one day... the __**one**__ day I wish he hadn't gone._

"Because I'm your brother and you love me and you'll do me this favour because I haven't been at school much and want to meet people and this would be the perfect way to do it."

Pause.

_Ahahahahaha! That's the best he's got?_ But just as I was opening my mouth to ridicule him for being temporarily delirious-

"And Gaara wants you to go." _Oh._

_Fuck._

"Why on earth does Gaara want me to go to this damn sexfest?" To this, Kankuro just shrugged with a smirk. I knew he wasn't lying. He never could lie with that kind of confidence. And I also knew how aware he was that that seemingly insignificant fact will surely get me to go.

Gaara had always been, shall we say, sensitive. At first it was for himself. He wouldn't let anyone talk to him or look at him or touch him the wrong way. Or touch him at all, come to think of it. It was like he had this barrier – this wall - around him at all times to keep everyone out. When he hit his early teen years, I had expected it to get a thousand times worse and, with our parents gone, I had no clue how I was going to deal with it. But, it turns out, I didn't have to.

Something in Gaara changed after our parents passed. He began to, agonizingly slowly, however, open up. Only to us though: Kankuro and myself. I was grateful. It was difficult enough to take care of two teenage boys on my own.

Furthermore, he began to love us again like he did when he was very young – like we loved him all along. He cared for us even more than he did himself at times. I loved him to death but it could be infuriating at times: how sensitive he was, now, to our needs.

I always trusted him because I knew how careful he was with what he did and said, and this was no exception. He wanted me to go and I have no idea why. But somehow, I always knew to listen to him because somehow, he was always right in the end, and I knew I would be thanking him soon enough.


	4. There 2

I don't know why the mere sight of me pissed her off so much. It's not like I was trying to pass her five times a day, believe me, I don't do much intentionally if I don't have to. But every time she saw me she would lift her upper lip into that adorable scowl and act like not only was it the most catastrophic event of her day (well, one of many, unfortunately) but that it was all my fault! So maybe we got off on the wrong foot, but in all honesty, if you're going to pick a fight with someone, I would suggest knowing enough about them to at least guess how they might react.

Like I do right now, for instance.

"You don't look that heavy but I think you're going to break the floor tiles if you keep stomping around like that." I said to the four sandy blond pigtails in front of me.

I could just picture her face forming that scowl as I stood there looking at the back of her head, and sure enough, she turned around and there it was. _And I'm right, again._

"What do you want?" She said, trying to keep her cool. I could tell she was almost at a breaking point, before she seemed to remember something and continued with, "and who the hell are you to judge how heavy I am?"

I frowned deeper. _Why do women always have to scream everything?_ Not wanting to answer, I just walked by her to where I saw Ino and Choji talking. I could feel her glare on me the whole time but I ignored it. It was just too troublesome to bother any more.

I said a quick 'hey' to Ino and Choji for which I got a loving woman's slap on the shoulder for not having come to see them earlier and interrupting their conversation. I sighed and let her continue. She was bitching about how everyone was going to some party tonight and she didn't have a thing to wear.

I casually shifted my footing and looked away so I could ignore her without attracting unwanted attention. It's something I've become rather good at over the years of Ino's senseless complaining.

However, this time, in the process of avoiding eye contact with one troublesome woman, I met that of another, possibly more, troublesome woman with whom I had had a brief conversation with mere moments ago. The transfer student looked away quickly, clearly not wanting to be caught staring. I ignored that too, though. It was too troublesome to come up with a list of reasons why she cares, or was staring in the first place.

"Shikamaru?" I turned back to Ino and Choji to realize they must have been talking to me. Ino had her hands on her hips, whining about my lack of decency and how if-I'm-going-to-come-talk-to-them-would-it-kill-me-to-pay-at-least-a-_little_-attention-to-the-conversation? I looked to Choji. _I don't know how he does it. He puts up with Ino no matter how she's acting and it never gets to him._

Realizing she's probably expecting some kind of assurance that she has my attention, I complied, "What?"

"I _said_, what are you going to wear tonight?"

"Um, clothes?" Ino's face cringed. _**Wrong.**_

"Shikamaru?" She said my name as though it had eight 'u's on the end of it instead of just one – like I'd just committed the most disastrous crimes in the history of fashion statements.

What did I care how people saw me? I didn't even want to go to that stupid party to begin with. It may surprise you to learn that I'm not really the dancing, flirting, partying kind of guy. She must have had me mixed up with Kiba when she seemed convinced I would have a good time.

"Can't you at least _try_ to make an effort?" _Make an effort to make an effort. Hmm.. I could, but it sounds like an awful lot of work._ I grunt in response as she insists on coming to my house after school to pick out the 'perfect outfit.' _And here I thought she knew every square inch of my wardrobe but that can't be. If she did, she'd know there's nothing in there even resembling the 'perfect outfit' she has in mind. I guarantee it._

And there goes the bell. Ino and I wave a farewell to Choji who's probably headed to the cafeteria. Just yesterday, Choji was kicked out of Music class for, once again, bringing snacks into the music room **and** into the instruments. Who knew he wouldn't be cut out for Music class? _Oh right, I did. Troublesome._ So he heads out to enjoy his spare while I have to face Ino in Chemistry.

Ino has never been very good with math. She had to flirt with the math teacher last year to let her pass. Thankfully for her, it was a man. So when her guidance councillor recommended she take a science course, she was in trouble. She said no to biology ("Ewwwwwwww! I don't want to touch inside a frog!") while her grades said hasta la vista to Physics seeing as it's essentially a more specialized math course. So Chemistry it was, with me. But even that involved more math than she could handle. We were balancing chemical equations today but she couldn't even get past the first page without my help.

I think I ended up doing more work on hers than mine, if my D and her C had anything to say about it. To my surprise and somewhat dismay, though, no one in the class seemed to understand at all. _This means more work on it. Ugh._ Our teacher wasn't stupid though. In fact, he was one of the few teachers in the school I had decent respect for. I had him for at least one class every semester since high school. Anyway, he could see no one was getting better this class and let us all out early, with the promise that next class we'll make progress.

Ino and I were the first to make it to the Art class before the bell had even rung but once it did, Ino got distracted by Sakura who came down the hall raving about the party tonight too. So I leaned against a nearby locker by myself. _At least this will get Ino off my back this class._ But before I could even enjoy the meaning of that thought, "What, are you stalking me or something?"

I closed my eyes and willed it to be untrue. They reopened, however, and I saw those four sandy blond pigtails down the hall as well as the rest of my class already gone. "Che, troublesome." I pushed myself off the lockers and headed into class. _What a pain._

The rest of the day passed rather easily though, until the end of the day, that is. As oblivious as Ino could be at times, she had an insane memory for everything that didn't matter. Like my attire for the party that night. Just as I was heading out of Advanced Functions, I thought I could go out the side door to avoid Ino (who was on the other side of the school in Dance).

It worked. For as long as it took to walk home. Making my way up the path to my house, I looked up to find Ino sitting on my porch, cross-legged, cross-armed and glaring at me. I sighed but never took my eyes off her. You never know when women in this state will pounce.

She smirked as I got closer, "Nice try, Shika, but you're not going to get rid of me that easily." _Too bad._ Apparently her excitement about the party had put her in an unusually good mood, though. If it weren't for that, I would have been deer meat.

"Yea yea, whatever. Just be quiet." _Maybe I can avoid my mom. One troublesome woman is bad enough._ I opened my front door as quietly as possible and led the way straight to the stairs. On the second last step from the top, just when I thought we were home free, "Shikamaru Nara, where do you think you're going?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

In, stomped my mother with all of her frowning glory. She immediately perked up, however, at the sight of Ino. "Oh Ino, darling. How are you, hun?" _Jeez, I'm the son around here, why can't I get that kind of greeting?_

"Wonderful, Mrs. Nara. I'm just helping get Shika ready for the party tonight." Ino sure had a way with parents. Between the innocent body language and that dazzling smile of hers, she could get anyone to believe her. My parents, though, knew her too well to truly fall for it. But they were polite, so my mother kept the nice act up as long as Ino was around.

"Oh well you just make sure my Shikamaru doesn't get himself into too much trouble, now." My mother said with a smile. Ino just giggled and started back up the stairs with me in tow.

"Now," Ino pronounced with an almost threatening undertone as she looked at my closet and opened dresser drawers. I slouched and placed my hands deep in my pockets. There is no way I'm going to let her turn this into a fashion show this time. Not going to happen.

_

* * *

_

_Why me?_

Ino was smiling at me like I was her prized sculpture. Hands on her hips, "I do good work," she praised herself.

I turned around, looked in the mirror and –

"Troublesome." I stuck my hands back in my pockets.


End file.
